Zeppelin Mail -- Hindenburg (Lz-129)

1st North America Flight of 1936

From 6-14 May 1936, the Hindenburg (LZ-129) made its first flight to North America.

All mail carried on board should bear a red confirmation stamp. Due to the massive volume of mail being transported on-board, mail was collected at several locations. The specific location at which a letter was processed is indicated by the letter of the confirmation stamp.

• Berlin C2 — "a" or "b"
• Frankfurt am Main — "c" or "d"
• Lorch, Württemberg — "e" to 5 May 1936
• Friedrichshafen — "e" after 6 May 1936
• Stuttgart — "f" and "g"

Frankfurt "c" and "d" Confirmation Stamps

Due to the popularity of this inaugural flight, origin cancels exist from locations worldwide and from on board. Mail dropped at Lakehurst beats a New York arrival cancel.


New York Arrival Cancel

A large quantity of mail was also carried on the return flight from Lakehurst, N.J. This mail bears a large violet Lakehurst confirmation stamp.

Examples:



This cover was cancelled in Friedrichshafen, and bears a Frankfurt "c" confirmation stamp and New York arrival cancel.


Friedrichshafen Cancel

And here it is on the album page:



Next one...



This cover was cancelled in Frankfurt, and bears a Frankfurt "d" confirmation stamp and New York arrival cancel.

And here it is on the album page:

1936 Olympic Flight

On 1 August 1936, the Hindenburg (LZ-129) made a round-trip flight from Frankfurt over the grounds of the 1936 Summer Olympics. The flight carried over 100,000 pieces of mail.

Cancels exist from Frankfurt Rhein-Main, on-board, and the numerous treaty states.


Frankfurt Rhein-Main Cancel

Mail carried on board bears a red or red-lilac confirmation stamp.


Confirmation Stamp

This cover bears an arrival cancel from the Berlin Central Airport.


Berlin-Zentralflughafen Arrival Cancel

Wow! Beautiful!

This is such impressive work you do, PGS!

Thanks for sharing this with us. I have few zeppelin covers in my collection. Great information and I also like the way you display the covers in your album.

Chimo

Bujutsu

...and one that was delivered after a bit of a delay.

1936 1. Südamerikafahrt (1st South America Flight)

From 31 March-10 April 1936, the Hindenburg (LZ-129) made its first flight from Germany to South America and back.

Mail from Germany is typically postmarked with cancels from either Friedrichshafen, on-board, or one of the many treaty states.


On-Board Cancel

Mail carried on this trip carries a red confirmation stamp like that previously used by the Graf Zeppelin for South American flights. The confirmation stamps each carried a letter indicating where it was used:

• a — Berlin
• b & c — Friedrichshafen
• d — on-board or from Stuttgart connecting flight
• * — Stuttgart

On-Board Confirmation Stamp



The cover shown above bears an airmail arrival cancel from the Brazilian Federal District.

These are better suited here than in my last post.

Impressive covers Postmaster.... Thank you for sharing

Another from the 1st North America Flight of 1936, previously shown here.



This cover was canceled in Stuttgart, and bears a red confirmation stamp "g", also from Stuttgart.

8th North America Flight of 1936

From 17-24 September 1936, the Hindenburg (LZ-129) made its eighth trip from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst, NJ, and back.

Mail making the trip was commonly canceled in Friedrichshafen, on-board, or from numerous treaty states. As had become standard with many LZ-129 flights, the on-board cancel was unique to this flight, with text "8. FAHRT / EUROPE-NORDAMERIKA" (8th Flight / Europe-North America).



A lilac cachet was applied to all mail carried on-board.

Again, Postmaster, lovely covers and a nice write-up.
Also, Bklynjava, I like your covers also and you do have some nice ones. I particulary like your Russian covers. I did read in Linn's some years ago that in the early and late 1930s, Russia issued airmail stamps with images of zeppelins that did not exist?? I believe it was published by Stephen Esrati who did a lot of politics and the background history on stamps. I also have to wonder if the Russian also did special flights and cachets for these 'non' zeppelins as well? Would be harder to do I think.

Chimo

Bujutsu

This is nicely done.

One thing to keep in mind about the red confirmation stamps is that they can lead to misunderstandings as to whether a letter or card was flown on a zeppelin. You need to have the stamps cancelled with the correct date and a correct back stamp and when appropriate a correct cachet. The reason is in the confirmation stamp design - you will notice that it includes not just a zeppelin but also a seaplane. This is because these marks were also applied to mail that was flown across the Atlantic by seaplane. So, you should pay close attention to the dates of the cancellation, back stamp and other supplementary markings such as cachets to determine whether it went by zeppelin or seaplane.